Culinary-Medicinal Higher Basidiomycete Mushrooms as a Prominent Source of Dietary Supplements and Drugs for the 21st Century
SOLOMON P WASSER'·2 & MARYNA YA DIDUKH 1.2
1Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Mt Carmel, 31905 Haifa, Israel; and 2M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2 Tereshchenkovskaya St., O I 00 I Kiev, Ukraine.
E-mail: spwassser@research.haifa.ac.il
Abstract: The number of mushrooms on Earth· 1s estimated at 140,000, yet perhaps only 10% (approximately 14,000 named species) are known. They make up a vast and yet largely untapped source of powerful new ph armaceut1cal products. Many, if not all, Basidiomycetes mushrooms contain biologically active substances in fruit bodies, cultured mycelium, and culture broth. These b iologically aclive substances are of different chemical composition and mode of action. For instance, numerous bioactive polysaccharides or polysaccharide-protein complexes from medicinal mush rooms enhance innate and cell-mediated immune responses and exhib飞1 ·anl!tumour acl!v1l!es m animals and humans. Stimulation of host immune defense systems by bioactive polymers rom med1cmal mushrooms has significant effects on the maturation, differentiation, and prolifera- tion of many kinds of immune cells in the host. Many of these mushroom poly mers were reported previously to have immunotherapeutic properties by facilitating growth inhibition and destruction of tumour cells. Whilst the mechanism of their anti tumor actions is still not completely understood, · stimulat10n and modulation o f key host immune responses by these mushroom polymers appears central. Several of the Basidiomycetes compounds (primarily polysaccharides) have proceeded through Phase I, II, and Ill clinical trials, and are used in Asia to treat vanous cancers and other diseases. However, most of the mushroom-derived biologically active susbtaces are used as dietary supplements. The present review analyzes the pecularities of b' 10logically active substances derived from Basiodiomycetes and their application as drugs and dietary supplements.
Key words: Medicinal mushrooms, dietary supplements, polysaccharides, polysaccharide-protein complexes, 1mmunomodulator activity
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